TiVo’s Netflix Player Preview

Yes, there’s more from TiVo! Tech of the Hub also received a demo of the new Netflix client for the TiVo Premiere. Due to be released with the next major version of the TiVo software this spring, version 21, the Netflix client offers a number of improvements over the current version. As previously reported, the new TiVo player will have access to native 1080P video from Netflix. In addition, there is support for Dolby Digital surround sound and closed captions. TiVo says that we will see ultimately see Dolby Digital Plus support in a future version but not in this release. Built in flash, the user interface is similar to the HTML5 UI used by many Netflix players on the market. Enjoy the show:

10 Responses to TiVo’s Netflix Player Preview

Evan Buxton on January 12, 2012 at 9:47 am

Finally. Looks good although the new HD interfaces from TiVo never seem to have that animated polish that most UI’s have these days. Elements just pop in and out without fades or animated transitions. Small things but either the hardware can’t handle it or they don’t want to do it. XBMC has some nice work in this area.

But this is actually a meta comment. Now that you’ve switched to WordPress, how are you embedding your videos? I noticed this video is oddly sized in kind of 4:3 format, even though the video itself is more 16:9. This causes big black bars above and below the video. And the video isn’t nearly as wide as the available space.

I’m guessing maybe you’re using WordPress’s built in video button? I find that it kind of sucks. I simply cut & paste the embed code out of YouTube for better results. And you can easily size it.

You’re embed code is:

YouTube’s default is:

Looking at your markup you’ve actually allotted 576px width for your center column, so that default size is probably perfect for you. (In my case my content column is more like 505px so I use a 500px width on images.) Here’s a really good reference: https://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html

I like to add the ?autohide=1 parameter. I think it looks ‘cleaner’ during playback. So in your case I’d use:

One note – YouTube has a bit of a bug. You can enter a custom size in YouTube, and it you enter a custom width it will automatically calculate the height to maintain the aspect ratio without bars. But there is a bug in their code. Note that if I go and enter ’500′ in the width I get:

That’s correct. But if I click in or tab into the ‘height’ box the box still shows ’284′, but the embed code now shows:

For some reason it subtracts 30 from the height. If you use that you end up with left and right bars because it will fill the height and maintain the aspect ratio. Weird glitch, but I’m used to it. Not an issue if you’re just using the defaults.

But this is actually a meta comment. Now that you’ve switched to WordPress, how are you embedding your videos? I noticed this video is oddly sized in kind of 4:3 format, even though the video itself is more 16:9. This causes big black bars above and below the video. And the video isn’t nearly as wide as the available space.

I’m guessing maybe you’re using WordPress’s built in video button? I find that it kind of sucks. I simply cut & paste the embed code out of YouTube for better results. And you can easily size it.

Looking at your markup you’ve actually allotted 576px width for your center column, so that default size is probably perfect for you. (In my case my content column is more like 505px so I use a 500px width on images.) Here’s a really good reference: https://code.google.com/apis/youtube/player_parameters.html

I like to add the ?autohide=1 parameter. I think it looks ‘cleaner’ during playback. So in your case I’d use:
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrKESzenZjk?autohide=1″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

One note – YouTube has a bit of a bug. You can enter a custom size in YouTube, and it you enter a custom width it will automatically calculate the height to maintain the aspect ratio without bars. But there is a bug in their code. Note that if I go and enter ’500′ in the width I get:
<iframe width=”500″ height=”284″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrKESzenZjk” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

That’s correct. But if I click in or tab into the ‘height’ box the box still shows ’284′, but the embed code now shows:
<iframe width=”500″ height=”254″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/KrKESzenZjk” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

For some reason it subtracts 30 from the height. If you use that you end up with left and right bars because it will fill the height and maintain the aspect ratio. Weird glitch, but I’m used to it. Not an issue if you’re just using the defaults.

Thanks MegaZone. I’m still learning some of the quirks of WordPress as blog. The YouTube issue is interesting since I cut and past the embed code from YouTube itself. I went back and looked at it again and is showing the defaults you stated. Strange. The video here is fixed and when I have some time I will go back and fix some of the other CES ones.

I have found that Netflix does not work on TiVo Premier XL Series 4. I’ve tried to use ALL steps listed on both TiVo and Netflix websites to remedy this. In fact, I can find nothing on either site that says Netflix will work on Series 4, only on Series 3. I purchased my TiVo Premier XL in June, 2011. It worked fine until apparently one of the TiVo auto-updates changed something to where it no longer works.

I think the best thing would be to contact TiVo support. Also, remember the process of elimination: Do other network apps like Hulu or Amazon Instant that work? If so, then you’ve eliminated a network connectivity problem. Do you have other Netflix devices in the house that work?

[...] and record programs on the living room HDTV. Given the planned upgrades for TiVo including a new Netflix interface and the UI improvements (now delivered), I recommended a TiVo Premiere to him. He already had a [...]

[...] TV and recorded content from the Premiere DVR as well as video streaming services such as Netflix (demo here) and Amazon Instant directly. The product may not be called the “Preview” when it goes [...]

Dan on May 13, 2012 at 3:03 am

I just got the new netflix interface on tivo, and while looke much better, the netflix programmers really need to learn some usibility lessons. The first one should be to follow the ui and button customs of the host system. For example, on tive, the clear button generally will stopand delete the show, not exti to the main menu. And the left arrow should stop the show to the local (netflix) menu… Not enter a FF / RW view. I still cannot figure out how to stop the show without exiting to the main menu (I suspect it can be done, i fust dont know which button).